Kojyou: The Five Passions, Part I: Joy
by Truewind
Summary: Always have the cities of Rune-Midgard been havens to flee to in times of danger. But what if the castles that are the sign of civilization's power to hold back the demonic tide turn against the people who own them? Chapter 2 is up!
1. Hammer of Faith

Kojyou: The Five Passions

Part I: Joy

Chapter 1: Hammer of Faith

Droplets of water slide between his fingers and flow down from the bottle in his left hand to pool in his right. From somewhere in the fabric of his being, a song rings in tune with the melody of driblets of holy water hitting the soft grass beneath his feet. Some part of him feels every slippery journey of water down the blades of grass and into the earth. All is harmony, all is in place.

"Hikari!"

A name? His name. Grass fades away, replaced by a vast darkness. He begins to fall.

"Hikari! Please, don't be dead! Hikari!"

That voice, it feels so good to hear. Hear? He has ears to listen with? Yes, ears.

"Hikari, it's Sean! Please…Oh God, please come back to me!"

Weeping? Tears fall down from another hand to pool inside his. First he begins to hear sound, and then touch returns to him. A hand, rough like unsanded wood, grasps his. It is wet. Another beats against his chest softly. Dry, cracked lips force air between his. All over his body there is a coldness, an emptiness. He falls.

"He's not breathing on his own? Sean, quick, let Liss take a look at him! Dammit, man, get out of the way!"

A light, warm and welcoming, touch the sides of his head and begins to flow all throughout his body.

"I think I'm reaching him." Says a voice, soft but beautiful. "Come, Hikari. It is not time for you to leave this world yet." A strange scent fills nostrils he had not known he'd had. A flower?

"Liss, you can heal him, right?" Asks that familiar, deep, wonderful voice. He remembers that voice, and the scent. Scents, now. Flowers mixed with boiled leather and oiled metal and sweat.

"First, we have to get him to breathe, Sean."

More sounds, the sounds of people screaming and fighting for their lives. The screams call to him, and he struggles to help the light penetrate his cold, darkened form.

"He has a heartbeat!" announces another voice, this one high-pitched and a bit squeaky. The voice smells like animals.

"Good, then we can still catch him." Replies the soft voice, the one that smells like flowers. He wants to help, to tell the voice that he wants to come back, but he cannot make his lips move. "Jenna, you have those blue gems I gave you to keep, right?" The voice turns away from him, and he is forlorn.

"Waaaay ahead of you." This voice feels like steel and hammers.

"Good. Sean, Kayley, keep him stabilized. From here on out, it's up to Hikari and God. There's nothing more we can do."

_I want to come back, Liss…_ He says, but the voice that smells like flowers. As he falls, he realizes that the flower is honeysuckle.

Breathe rushed into his lungs all at once, and he tried to sit up, but strong hands pushed him back down to the floor. "What the hell happened to me?" he croaked, and someone laughed.

"He's all right. If he can curse, he's all right! Glory and hallelujah, he's alive!"

Hikari snorted, and immediately regretted it when blood came up through his mouth as a result. "Sean, I wasn't going to die. Who'd keep you alive while you hunt demons then, eh?"

"I told you so." Said the girl who was holding him down. A bow was strapped across her back, and she still had on her thimble. The bow was strung. "Sean, you gotta believe in us more!"

"Never said I didn't believe you." Muttered Sean, who was currently standing a bit aside from Hikari, back turned. Hikari couldn't see his head, because it was obscured by heavy armor, and Sean was a very tall man.

"Sean…" Hikari said, and he tried to lift his arm. Gently, but firmly, the huntress kept him from doing it. Foiled, he lolled his head in the crusader and let tears fall from his eyes. "Sean, I love you. I could never leave you behind. Please, try to remember that."

The only answer was the shifting of metal plates as Sean swept out of the room. Kayley looked down worriedly at Hikari. Her blinkers were pushed up onto her forehead to reveal brilliantly green eyes, red from recent weeping. "He…I…we were all so worried about you, Hikari. Liss and Michael told Sean that he wasn't allowed to touch you, or even come near you, so don't be afraid. I don't know why they told him that, but it isn't because he doesn't love you." She paused to shift his head so that it was in her lap. Hikari noted that she smelled of leather and animal sweat. "I'll never forget the way that he looked when he carried you here. He thought you were dead."

She paused again, stroking his hair and waiting a long time before saying anything else. "He looked like he was dead, too."

Far off in the distance, explosions he recognized as coming from the Lord of Vermillion rang out. "What's that, Kayley?" He asked. Kayley blinked a few times, wondering if he'd heard her, but decided not to press.

"I don't know, Hikari."

"You're lying." He retorted, and she glared down at him. "You should be out there, helping with whatever it is, not in here babying me."

"Babying you?" she said incredulously. "You took an assault from Baphomet himself head on, and you say we're _babying_ you? Who are you, Sean? Honestly. If I were you, I'd be asleep right now."

She looked away, out toward the source of light that flowed into the church. Hikari leaned back against her lap and scowled. "What do you see?"

"It's nothing, Hikari, stop worrying."

"It's a horde of the undead, isn't it?"

"Shut up! Why don't you just go to sleep?"

"It might help if I was in a bed, hon."

"I can't get you to a bed right now!"

"Uh-huh, and why might that be?"

"Yamato Hikari, you almost _died_! Shut up and go to sleep!"

_I can't sleep when people I love out there are getting themselves hurt._ He thought to himself. _I should be out there, helping Liss and Etansel heal the wounded. Instead, I'm stuck in here with crybaby Kayley…_

"Kayley?"

The door to the sanctuary slid open slowly, an obvious attempt (and failure) at keeping quiet to avoid waking Hikari. The big wooden door creaked so badly it made Hikari wince.

"He's awake, Jenna. What is it? Is everyone all right? They won't tell me anything!"

Kayley's voice acquired a slightly hysterical quality. Jenna rushed into the room and knelt beside Hikari.

"He's really all right?" asked the burly blacksmith. Her voice was a pleasant, deep alto, slightly raspy like a bellows.

"I wouldn't say having a gaping wound in my chest was all right, but I'm not dead." Hikari interjected tartly. Jenna frowned down at him.

"Don't speak, Hikari. Kayley, I came to take over for you. They need you in the sewers."

"The sewers?" Kayley asked as she pulled down her blinkers and shifted Hikari over to Jenna's keeping. "But I thought…"

Jenna shook her head. "I know. Penos got into the aqueduct somehow, they're wreaking havoc. The clergy is keeping up a Pneuma wall, but they need all the help they can get. I'm no good against those things, so Hale sent me for you. Get going, they need you!"

Kayley wasted no time; she snatched up her bow and quiver, and then bolted from the room. The big door slammed behind her.

"I should be out there helping."

"Shut up, you."

_Prontera__ Cemetery_

One of Sean's hands stayed clasped around the rosary that hung about his throat, while the other used his sword to cut down the undead. They came in numbers like he had never seen, not even in his long forays in the bowels of the forsaken city, Glastheim.

"Where are they coming from?" he shouted as another wave of the hideous facsimiles of human life fell to his blade. Nearby, his friend Michael leaped and sprang and dispatched the undead with powerful blows from gloved fists and booted feet.

_No idea._ Came the coarse reply, via a curious contraption invented by their guild wizards. A tiny gem, carried somewhere on each member's person, allowed them to communicate with each other mentally. Terradi had explained the system to Sean once, saying that each gem was a fragment of the Emperium held deep inside the guild's castle. Folklore said that the Emperium held all the hopes and dreams of its guild's members, and in a way, it was true. The massive crystal was warm to the touch, as were all of the communication jewels, and Sean always felt better when he was around it. No one knew exactly how the Emperium and its shards were related, only that a guild's Emperium would provide enough shards for all of its members, and only just enough. Michael wore his shard as a stud in his left ear. Sean's was attached to his rosary.

_Will they ever stop coming?_ Sean asked in the same way. Aloud, he shouted, "Holy Cross!" and wide shafts of pure, white light erupted from his blade to slash through the ghoul that was shambling toward him. Michael finished off a skeleton with a punch before back flipping lightly over to stand by Sean.

_You know as much as I do, Sean._ Michael told him. _Does it matter if they end? We're fresh, and Hikari and Jenna are inside. We will fight for as long as we need to._ He did another skeleton in with a kick. Sean slashed open the body of a zombie that got too close to the sanctuary's back entrance.

_So it _is_ a horde of the undead._ Said a new voice. Sean stopped in the midst of bashing in the head of another corpse.

_Hikari_ He asked. One of the properties of the guild's jewel network was that everyone in the guild who was conscious could hear messages sent along it. _You're supposed to be asleep!_

_And let the two of you screw this up? Not a chance. Have you tried the graves?_ Hikari's mental voice was shaky, but came with a flood of determination behind it.

_Of course._ Michael retorted. _I've slain as many of these as you, don't patronize me. What are your thoughts?_

_Mike! He should be asleep!_ Sean snapped. Hikari ignored him.

_Did you try pouring holy water around the edges of the graveyard? Have any of the undead even left the graves?_

Sean looked around. More and more undead filled the confines of the graveyard constantly, but none of them actually left. _Damn, you're right. What do we do?_

Hikari gave the mental equivalent of a snort. _It'd be easy if I was there, but I can't move my legs, so you'll have to improvise. Michael, use your Spirit Spheres to mark the edges of a cross that spans the entire graveyard. Then, have Sean focus his Grand Cross along the points you define. Together, the two of you should be able to consecrate the defiled holy ground. It'd be easier with holy water, but…_

_Enough._Michael interrupted. _I understand. Sleep._

Hikari fell silent immediately, and Sean exhaled gustily. "Mike, I…"

The monk was engulfed by blue light, chanting in the ancient tongue with eyes closed. Sean kept back any stray undead who tried to take out a piece of Michael for dinner. Soon the monk had the requisite four spheres. "Just be ready to perform the Grand Cross." He told Sean, eyes narrowed seriously. Then, he was crashing through the milling ranks of undead to lay down the cross. Sean waited at the center of the graveyard, covering Michael with pillars of healing light, until the monk had finished laying down the last sphere. Sean sheathed his sword and raised his right hand, closed his eyes, and gripped his rosary tightly with his left hand. Time slowed down, the undead seemed to move even more slowly.

"Light of thy holy Father, form a hammer of faith to strike down these sinful children of hell. Grand Cross!"

White light enveloped the graveyard. When it dissipated, the hordes of undead were gone.


	2. Shadows in the Water

Kojyou: The Five Passions

Part One: Joy

Chapter Two: Shadows in the Water

_Prontera__ Culverts_

_Huh…huh…huh…_

He tried as best as he could to mask the soft sound of his breathing, to strain his ears beyond even that tiny noise and peel away the layers of darkness that prevented him from seeing anything. Lapping about his shins was water that reeked from too much time away from any sort of light source, so there was no way for him to track by smell. Not that the creatures he was following even had a distinguishable smell, not when they did not want to be detected.

Penomena were much like their smaller, less mobile cousins, the hydra, in appearance. About two feet high, with a pair of freakish not-eyes that glowed red as they attacked, penomena had tentacles that stretched to unbelievable lengths and could easily penetrate bedrock. None of this mattered, of course (except the bit about the tentacles), because the assassin could not see them. Fortunately, he was accustomed to working in total darkness; he had other senses than just sight. Unfortunately…

"Ouch!" A few moments passed. "Oof!"

The assassin whirled on his friend in the darkness; she stumbled into him and yelped, stifling it too late.

"Kayley, go away, I can do this by myself. You're just making trouble for me, and you're bird's no use here, anyway."

She pouted, and somehow, he could tell. "But Kiyoshi…"

Something in the water nearby shifted. He slapped a gloved hand over the huntress' mouth and listened. The same sound, almost lower than their breathing, cried out to him again from the darkness. Droplets of water sprayed against his boots, and he threw himself away, bringing Kayley with him. They rolled to the side, and silence reined once again in the culverts. Slowly, he removed her hand, and Kayley thrust herself away into the water. "'The hell's is wrong with you, Kiyo? You'd think those things were attacking us, or something!"

All around them, hideous facsimiles of human eyes began to open, to glow with a devilish, mindless, red light. Kiyo stood up and glared at the hundreds of penomena through the shadows. A swift movement, and his twin Damascus daggers, forged for him by Jenna the Hammer herself, were in his hands. "I think you'd better wake up your bird, Kay. He might come in handy after all."

_Tan, we need you. Now._

_Tan, we need you. Now._

Etansel Waterson had never heard that particular tone of voice come out of Kiyoshi's mouth before, and it disturbed him even more to hear it over the guild network. _Kiyo, what's wrong?_ Responded the priest as he raised another short-lived barrier of energy to keep the frenzied movements of penomena from reaching the inner keep of Creamhilt.

_No questions, just come._

Tan looked over to their guildmistress, Hale, question in his eyes. The tall knight nodded.

"Go, they need you more than we do. Sean and Michael are heading back; they can fill in for you well enough. Life's light never fade, my friend."

"Shadows flee the stout heart. Hale, are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I keep potions, love. It's why we have a resident alchemist. Now get moving."

Tan bowed, and then called upon what vestiges of light he could gather. From within his robes, he procured a small, blue gem, uncut, and poured his energies into it. It took a few moments, but the stone cracked, then crumbled, falling to the ground. A fountain of blue light appeared in its place. With a last look for his guildmistress, he stepped into the light.

He materialized at the entrance to the culverts, right next to an over-curious novice, who had been peering curiously into the dark depths. She fell backwards onto her rear when he appeared, splaying her hands out behind her to catch herself. Tan ignored her, and entered. The novice pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"How rude!" Curiosity took over, however, and she gathered herself up to follow the priest inside.

Kiyo was in a bad way. His left arm was nearly useless, pocked with wounds given by the penomena. He was fast, but there just was no way to avoid the tentacles every time they struck, especially when there were so many. Beside him, a light-stick clenched in her teeth, Kayley fired off volley after volley of arrows, but he could tell that she was beginning to flag as well. Dodging a peno's attack, he uncorked a bottled potion of healing liquid and downed it, all in one swift motion. He could feel the wounds to his arms close up, but he had no illusions that they would stay that way.

Kayley's hawk, Nicodemus, was doing his job with a will, diving in to scratch at the penomena. He also carried a light in his beak, giving Kayley the means to hit targets beyond her normal range of sight. Nicodemus had no trouble weaving in and out of the forest of be-tentacled monsters, and in that respect, he was doing much better than either of the humans. Still, he could not cause much damage.

_Am I going to die here?_ The assassin asked himself as he slashed open yet another semi-sentient plant. It retaliated by rapidly inserting a tentacle into his shoulder and ripping it out just as swiftly. Kiyo hissed from the pain, but returned the sally by slicing the monster into rough halves. The tentacles ceased to wave. Just as he started after the next one, though, a terrible shriek of pain erupted from his partner's mouth behind him. He checked his body's movement mid-run and swung around just in time to see Kayley go down with a wound to her leg.

"No!" he shouted, and ran to catch her. She fell into his strong arms gasping for breath and trying to force down bile from the shock.

"Kiyo, I think this is it for us." She whispered. Nicodemus dropped his light and keened mournfully.

He nodded solemnly, and bowed over her limp form, waiting for the final blow.

It never came.

Both of them raised their heads as brilliant, sapphire light erupted into existence around them. Kayley, recognizing the sign of a Pneuma barrier, gasped with relief. "Tan made it!" she breathed, and Kiyo felt moisture seep down from her cheeks.

"Of course I made it." Said a cocky voice from just down the way. Tentacles struck at the form that approached, but invariably went astray as they railed against Etansel's barrier. Healing light flowed over Kayley and Kiyoshi, and they stood up. Tan, surrounded by two light spirits to banish the darkness, grinned at them. "Now, would I ever let you two die? We still have to get you hitched, you know."

Kayley deadpanned, and Kiyo allowed himself a chuckle.

"Tan!" Kayley's voice was more than a little scathing. The priest just laughed.

"Now Kayley, I was only trying to lighten things up. We all know you and Kiyo hate each other."

"That's it, buster!" exclaimed the huntress as she drew an arrow back and fired it into a peno. "You're so not getting to do the ceremony!"

"Noooo!"

From there, it was pretty much just clean up.

_Castle Creamhilt, Prontera_

Hale Marlene Ambrose paced back and forth before the huge, golden crystal that was the symbol of her guild's power. Twilight had controlled Creamhilt for the past two years, and she had grown to love this great castle and its great, sweeping columns, lavish carpets, and tapestries rich with history that dated back to the time of King Tristan's grandfather's grandfather. In short, Creamhilt was home.

"Hale, would you cut that out? I can't concentrate when you pace like that."

Standing just to the side of Twilight's guildmistress was one of the guild's wizards, a woman by the name of Terradi. In contrast to Hale's long, lithe form, Terra was short, and almost husky in a way. Her cream cloak flowed out behind her so she could sketch magical signs into the air. The results of her arcane gestures were currently fluttering around above Hale's head in butterfly form.

"Terra, sometimes I think that breaking your concentration might not be such a bad idea." Hale snapped. Terra just looked back at her calmly, never stopping the motions of her hands. From below, a voice echoed up.

"Why don't you break her head while you're at it? Be doing the rest of us a favor, in my opinion."

The sound of Sean's deep, resonant voice made Hale smile. She was always glad to see the crusader; they often trained together, and though he was much stronger than her, she was always faster.

Terradi, on the other hand, had a very different reaction. Squealing, she raised over to the edge of the staircase and leaped off, presumably expecting Sean to catch her. Instead, she fell only a few inches onto a glowing platform of white energy. Hale peered over the edge and saw that Hikari accompanied Sean, along with Michael and Jenna. The young priest's hands shown with the same pale glow as the barrier he had created to hold Terra up. As the wizard beat against it, the others made their way up the stairs casually. Jenna waved beneficently to Hale as she came up, and the knight smiled in return.

"It's good to see you all safe." She told them. Sean snorted, Hikari rolled his eyes, and Michael just brooded. But then, Michael always brooded. Hale sighed.

"Where is everyone?" Hikari asked, one of his dark black eyebrows rising in a way that Hale wished she could emulate. Terra continued to wail in the background.

"Liss is on healing duty, and I sent Satay with her to back her up. The should be fine, they were going to meet up with Miya's crew. Tan went to help Kiyo and Kayley, they've been reporting regularly."

"And Faia?" Sean asked.

"Research." Hale responded promptly. Jenna took pity on Terra and helped her back onto the platform, where the wizard promptly collapsed into a pile of robes, tears, and incoherent babbling. "I think he's been trying to find out what exactly happened; he's been in the library for hours."

"What exactly did happen?" Jenna asked, a frown marring her normally smiling face. "Penos in the Culverts? That's definitely never happened before. Don't need research to find that out."

Hale shook her head. "I should really wait until everyone else gets back to say anything."

"Stow it, Hale." Sean said brusquely. "Hikari almost died today. If you know something, tell us."

The crusader stood apart from Hikari, stoutly obeying the orders that Hale herself had passed down. Turning, Hale removed her left gauntlet and reached up to touch the Emperium.

"The castles have turned against us."

Author's Note: Thanks for the review, Tom. Normally, I would agree with you about the attack shouting, but in the case of Grand Cross, I think it's very appropriate. Sean's definitely pompous enough to shout out his ultimate technique. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

As for you people who haven't read/reviewed this. DO IT! XD Give me love.

Truewind


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